Beans & peas
Borlotti / cranberry beans
More flavorful and productive than kidney or pinto. Direct sow after frost, in ground.
- Outside
- Direct after frost, soil 60F+, late May
- Where
- In ground or raised bed
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Even through pod fill; ease off as pods marble
- Harvest
- Sep to Oct, fresh shell or dry
Borlotti out-produce and out-flavor the kidneys and pintos they share the bean patch with, which is why they get the biggest block of it. Same lazy season: direct sown after frost, left standing until the pods dry down in September.
Growing
Sow straight into warm ground in late May, tight, a seed every three or four inches, in the biggest patch the plan allows; dry beans pay by the square foot, not by the plant. Cranberry types add a stage the others lack: pods gone marbled but not yet papery shell out as fresh beans in September and cook straight away, no soaking. Whatever stays on the plant dries standing, and if a wet stretch argues, plants come up whole to finish under cover. Give water freely until the pods plump, then taper as they marble; a dry finish is half of clean shelling.
Varieties
Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco, sold in English as Tongue of Fire, comes in bush and climbing forms, and the bush form suits these rows. Vermont Cranberry is the New England strain that has shrugged off this weather for two centuries.
In the kitchen
Fresh-shelled in September they simmer to cream in half an hour and make the year's best pasta e fagioli. The dried remainder jars for winter and cooks faster than any store bean.